A Friendship Like Ours
by lizzierae
Summary: The boys were always there for each other. When Carlos' parents and baby brother are killed all in one night, the boys' friendship is sincerely tested.
1. Celebration Interrupted

_I have problems. I decided to make another sad-ish fic! ...I'm sorry, here it is. _

_I don't own anything._

Kendall Knight, James Diamond, Carlos Garcia, and Logan Mitchell had been best friends for as long as anyone could remember. The four of them were the star hockey players of their high school, the biggest _indirect _trouble makers around, and the group of individuals you generally never saw apart.

Kendall was the unofficial leader. He had a smirk that practically screamed _trouble_, and an "I can get you to do anything" grin to match. With his cool and calm personality, he had no problem getting himself and his boys out of trouble…most of the time. Even when he _did_ get caught in the middle of a bad plan once in a while, one look in those pure green eyes and a flash of those dimples could make _any_ harsh adult cave in on future punishment…especially his mother, which explained a lot.

James was without a doubt the most attention-loving pretty boy around. With a mixture of his good looks and dashing personality, nearly every girl (and even a few boys) wanted to date him. He was never the brightest crayon in the box, but James' big dreams made life a lot more interesting. Despite that quite a few people found him conceited, he loved and treasured his friends dearly.

Carlos was the high-spirited fun-lover. He lived by the motto Kendall constantly told Logan—"A life without risk is a life unlived". There wasn't much Carlos wouldn't be willing to do. With his naturally bouncy personality (and maybe that metal plate in his head), he would risk any seemingly-stupid stunt and go for it. His doe-eyes and sad smile could get him out of the deepest of trouble and lectures when he did these things. Though, his friends would never let him do anything extremely harmful.

Logan was the cautious-yet-willing smartie. Though he rarely ever agreed to his friends' crazy schemes, he always went along with them and tried his best to fix their mistakes. He was always mocked by his friends, who seemed to find it humorous to call him _Dad_ for his traits, but he knew it was all good fun, and that they needed him.

They all needed each other. Especially that summer after their sophomore year of high school.

The last day of school, it was traditional for the kids of their high school go to the local park, which was conveniently located next to the best ice cream parlor that any of the Minnesota locals had ever known. The tradition was no different for the boys. So as soon as school let out at 3:00 that sunny June afternoon, the four best friends headed over to get their victory ice cream. They were finished with another year of school…what _wasn't_ there to celebrate?

Upon entering the tiny shop that smelled like homemade sweets, Carlos and James made sure they were the first in line for their ice cream. Logan and Kendall took their time, and stopped to talk to a few friends before getting their own cones.

"Guys, get your ice cream, and let's go to the park!" Carlos demanded the two talkative boys as he and James made their way back over to them. He held his double chocolate ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles out for unnecessary emphasis.

"Relax," Kendall replied with a laugh, now turning to face his jumpy friend, away from the group of three girls he and Logan (but mostly he) were talking to. "They're not going to run out of ice cream if we don't run up and get our cones the second school lets out."

"Oh, they might!" James argued, a serious look in his wide eyes. It was the look he got when somebody tried to tell him he didn't need to spend twenty extra minutes in the bathroom every morning. How did they think he got so pretty? Beauty takes time!

Kendall and Logan both cocked an eyebrow, shrugged, and went to get their ice cream. Carlos and James immediately high-fived.

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" they screamed in unison.

"What mission? We're getting ice cream!" Logan objected in that jumpy, 'what are you smoking' kind of voice.

"_That_ mission," James said. At least he made sense to himself…

Logan rolled his eyes with a small grin and turned around to pick out his ice cream.

Hours later, the boys went to Kendall's house, like they did almost every night, to have their annual sleep-over, like they did almost every non-school night. Sleep-overs were totally _not_ just for girls, and they resented people who thought so!

"How awesome is it that we are officially juniors?" Carlos was saying as he sat in his sleeping bag on Kendall's bedroom floor. "We're upperclassmen!"

"Completely awesome!" James answered almost immediately. "Things are gonna be so great next school year!"  
>"That's ridiculous," Logan commented from his spot on Kendall's bed. "The only thing that'll be any different is the fact that we'll be in a different grade level. And you two don't do your homework anyway…"<p>

"We do so!" James objected. Logan gave him a wary look, so he continued, "Sometimes…if it's not too hard… and with your help, good buddy!"

Logan laughed and shook his head, "Whatever… Why are you guys talking about next school year anyway? Shouldn't you start summer party planning?"

James and Carlos' faces lit up at the mention of party, and Carlos exclaimed, "PARTY! …Let's have a party."

"Right now?" Kendall asked, now walking into the bedroom with a tray of pure junk food for the boys to eat.

"Why not?" James asked, equally excited as Carlos.

"It's 11:30," Logan answered blankly.

"So?" the party kings replied in unison, so very obviously not seeing the point in the night's time. It was summer, after all.

"_So_, my mom would freak," Kendall said. "Unless we go somewhere else…" He had that "I have a plan" face on, to Carlos and James' delight, and Logan rolled his eyes.

"And when your mom comes in to check on us?" the skeptical boy questioned.

"We're 16, not 6," Kendall replied with a confident shrug of his shoulders.

Right as Logan was about to respond, as if on some universal que, there was a soft knock on the door, and Mrs. Knight appeared a second later. "Boys, you still up?"

"Yes, Mrs. Knight," Logan replied with a smirk Kendall's way. Kendall rolled his eyes and turned to his mother from his seat in the green bean bag chair.

"Mom, you don't have to check up on us," he told her. Mrs. Knight had a look on her face Kendall hadn't seen in years…the last time he saw it was the day she told him his father was dead. Upon recognizing this look, Kendall immediately stood and made his way over to his mother. "Mom, what's wrong?" His complete attitude had changed.

"Sit down, sweetheart… There's something I want to tell the four of you together…" Mrs. Knight replied, pushing gently past her son and gesturing for him to sit back down.

Kendall hesitantly sat on his bed, next to Logan. Carlos and James looked up from their spots on the floor. All four boys wondered what it could be Mrs. Knight had to tell them. If Kendall was scared for his mother, like Logan, James, and Carlos had just seen him express by the look in his eyes, then there was perfect reason for all of them to have a slight fear. Mrs. Knight usually didn't come into their room at such a late hour—she had to get her eight hours of sleep for the next day.

"What is it?" Kendall asked once again.

His mother looked like she was about to burst into tears, scream, and hug all of them, all at once. She took a calming breath, and told the boys as calmly as possible, "There was an accident…"

And just like that, with those four simple words, the boys had bigger things to worry about than whether or not the next school year would be any different, and whether or not they should sneak out to party… They had real problems.

_Fudge YEAH, I left you with a cliffhanger on the first chapter! :) I'm sorry. It's like midnight, and I'm weird. Soo...what do you think, and stuff? Peace.!_


	2. Gone

_Chapter two.:) Sorry it's kinda short...but I started writing the next thing to happen along with it, and it didn't really make sense in this chapter, sooo yeahh._

_And once again, I own nothing. But enjoy reading! ..Well...you know what I mean._

Kendall was immediately reminded of his father's sudden death. The look on his mother's face, the quiet in the room, the silent wonder he knew they were all afraid to show, the holding back of tears…everything was all too familiar.

"What do you mean, Mrs. Knight?" Logan was the first to ask. He knew this had to affect all of them. If it didn't, she wouldn't have _spoken_ to all of them. At least not together anyway…

She turned to Carlos, "Carlos…your dad was working on the bad side of town tonight…" She tried to speak in the most motherly way she could. She couldn't believe she had to do this _twice_ now.

Carlos immediately got the hint, as did his best friends. "No…" came his quiet whisper.

Mrs. Knight nodded her head, the tears now silently cascading down her face, as she replied in an almost equally silent whisper, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart…he was shot and died at the scene."

Kendall immediately flew over to Carlos, burying him in a hug, Logan and James being quick to follow. Kendall's own dad having lost his life only a short time ago, the blond knew _exactly_ how he felt right now. Alone, scared, angry, unbelieving…

"No, no, no!" Carlos was screaming as he cried, trying to break free of his friends, who weren't planning on moving any time soon. "He can't be! I just saw him this morning! He wasn't even supposed to work tonight!"

Mrs. Knight's own tears were getting the best of her, seeing all four of her boys cry together as they comprehended the news. It reminded her so much of when she had to tell Kendall and Katie about their father… There was nothing she could do, and there was still more news to come.

"Honey…" she reached out and touched Carlos's shoulder. "I'm so sorry… but there's more."

"W-what else cou-could there possibly be?" Carlos yelled through tears, barely making any words clear, yet the mother knew perfectly well what he'd said, as did his best friends.

"Your mom and baby brother were both found murdered in your house, too…" Mrs. Knight whispered once again.

And Carlos' world came crashing down at once. His whole family was gone. _Gone_.

"You're lying!" the broken boy accused. "They're not dead! They're not! My mamí and papí are both home asleep, and so is Andreas! His bedtime's 8:00, and he never misses it!"

"Carlos, honey, I'm so sorry…" Mrs. Knight didn't know what else to say. "The police called here to make sure you were safe… They'll be here shortly. You're staying with us for a while."

"Mom," Kendall got his mother's attention, knowing how hard this was for her. "We'll handle this…see you in the morning?"

She was about to say no, that she wouldn't leave, that they all needed her…but then she changed her mind, knowing how Kendall was. She just nodded, kissed his forehead, along with the other boys', and left the room with many glances back.

It was by far the roughest night of Carlos' life. He'd always gotten along well with his family—well, he got along with anyone and everyone, but his family meant the _world_ to him. He had practically been the exact copy of his father, his mother was like the God of all mothering, and Andreas was only a baby, 4-years-old. There was so much Carlos wanted to teach him. He promised him he'd teach him how to play hockey this winter like a pro…now he never could.

The boys spent the rest of the night just like that—together, like they'd been for most of their lives.


	3. It's Different

_I'm sorry it's short, but at least I updated! :) A for effort?..Do people still say that? Oh well, just read! And remember, I don't own stuff! Yay._

Three days later was the funeral. It was decided by Carlos' abuelo that there would be a combined funeral for all three of the Garcias. After all, they were a close family. So the family of three was buried together, while poor Carlos was left all alone in the world of the living.

He had never felt alone in his life. Not when his mamí left him on that sunny September morning of his first day of kindergarten 11 years ago, not when his baby brother was being born and he had to stay with his grandparents, not when his papí worked late at night had he ever felt alone. He always knew there was someone else around, so he never needed to feel alone. Now he did, because no one was there. Sure, his friends and their parents were there. His many uncles, aunts, and cousins were all there, many of them flown in from out-of-state and even a different country. His grandparents were there. But he couldn't help but feel like no one could help him.

"There's a difference," he was telling his friends as the four boys all sat at a small table. "You guys are _like_ my brothers, but you're not. There's no one here that can replace them…"

"We're not trying to replace them," James reminded him, putting a hand on his shoulder for support. "We're just trying to show you that, this is hard, but you can get through it. You have us to help you."

"And we'll always be here for you, Carlos. No matter what," Kendall told him.

Carlos gave a small nod, but kept up his point, "I don't know…I just feel so alone."  
>"But you're not alone," James argued once again.<p>

"You don't get it… you guys all have your family."

"_We're _your family," Logan pointed out. "Blood related or not."

"I know what you're going through, man," Kendall stated with a reassuring, small smile Carlos' way. "When I lost my dad—"

Carlos cut him off immediately, "You still have your mom and Katie."

Kendall was silent a second, not sure of how to respond. Yes, he did have Mom and Katie…but that didn't mean they weren't going through similar things, right?

Wrong. The more Kendall thought about it, the more he realized how wrong he was. Carlos was right. If he hadn't had his mom and Katie, things would have been completely different. He didn't know what he would have done. They were like his rocks. He stepped up to be "the man of the house" because his mom needed him to be. Katie needed him to be. He had to mow the lawn, fix the leaky faucet, help Katie with her homework when their mother was working every shift possible and completely exhausted from it, just so they could get by. He _had _to step it up, so he could get _them_ through it. He helped them through it, and they helped him.

Who would help Carlos get through this? He didn't just lose a father—he lost a mother and a brother, too. He lost everything.

"You're right," the blond leader finally responded to Carlos' comment. "I did have my mom and Katie." He wished there was more for him to say or do or _anything_, but there wasn't. He was, for once, at a loss of what to do.

The boys were quiet up until Officer Matthews, a good family friend and Carlos' dad's partner in the police force, came up to them, a solemn look on his face. He hugged Carlos.

"How are you, Carlos?" he asked.

Carlos shrugged, "Not so good, Officer Matthews. How are you?" He knew if his mother were alive, she'd make him use his proper manners, even though all he wanted to do was scream and cry.

"I'm alright… Listen, buddy, I have to talk to you about all this."

"No," Carlos interrupted. "I don't want to hear about it right now. Please? It's my parents' and brother's funeral…I don't want to talk about why I'm here."

Officer Matthews nodded, "I know, kiddo… How 'bout we chat later about necessary things. There are some things you and I need to discuss. Mrs. Knight said it would be alright for me to stop by tomorrow, is that okay?"

Carlos gave a small nod, "Thank you."

The officer gave a small smile, a nod to the rest of the boys, and left them once again, to speak once again with Kendall's mother.


	4. Temporary Living Arrangements

_Chapter four. :) It answers your questions on what happens to Carlos..so yay. It's pretty short though...but please don't kill me for it!_

_And I own nothing._

Officer Matthews came to the Knight's house the next morning, 10:00 sharp. Kendall, Logan, and James were told to stay upstairs in Kendall's room until everything was said and done. Mrs. Knight and Carlos were in the dining room with Officer Matthews.

"I'd be perfectly willing to have Carlos live with us, Officer," Mrs. Knight was telling Officer Matthews.

The officer nodded and replied, "That would be great, considering everything that's happened. We're doing everything we can to track down Sylvia and Andreas' murderer, and we don't know if he'll come after Carlos, too." Carlos froze at that. He had never even thought about that. He was so upset about the murders, that he completely forgot about the _murderer_. Officer Matthews went on speaking to Mrs. Knight, "Are you sure you want to risk that, Mrs. Knight? Your family could be in danger, too, if you take Carlos in."

Mrs. Knight didn't even hesitate to reply, "Of course I'm sure. Carlos is like my own son. His mother was one of my best friends, and I know she'd do the same for my children. I'd rather him be here, instead of living with some stranger. But there will be some kind of protection for everyone, right?"

Officer Matthews nodded, "Of course. We'll have police outside your house for a while, and if you need anything you can call me." He put a hand on Carlos' shoulder, gaining his attention, "Are you okay with living here up until your court date next month?"

Carlos gave a confused look, "Court date?"

"For custody. You're not eighteen yet, so the court will either have to decide if you can stay here for good, or live with your grandparents, another relative, or foster care," the officer explained.

Carlos nodded, "Okay…"

After some more talking Carlos couldn't pay much attention to, for the sake of his sanity, Officer Matthews left the house. Carlos immediately hugged Mrs. Knight, "Thank you for taking me in, Mrs. Knight."

The mother smiled, "Like I said, you're like a son to me. I won't let them make you live anywhere else. Now, go upstairs and talk to your friends—I'm sure they're anxious to hear about everything."

Carlos all but ran up the steps to Kendall's (and now his) bedroom.


	5. Undeserving

_I have an ity bity, teensy weensy case of writers block right now... I have chapter 6 almost done, and I know where I wanna go with this, but yeah... And you know what I realized halfway through writing this little note? **Does anybody even read these things?** Seriously, I'm probably talking to no one. Oh well, in case you ARE reading this, just watch out, 'cause I may not update for a while... Sorry in advance! :/_

_And I don't own anything. _

Carlos was set to stay at the Knight's house for the next month, until there was a court case depicting who he would live with, since he didn't have a proper guardian. His parents never made a will, so no one knew where he should go, or what he was going to do, especially Carlos. It was his life, and he wasn't even in control of it anymore.

Though staying at the Knight's house was something he did regularly when his parents were alive, it was completely different now. Now, he didn't have any other home to go to. He kept expecting his mother to call his cell phone and tell him to come home for dinner. He never realized how much he'd miss those unnecessary phone calls until his mother was gone.

"So, are you ready for your court date next week?" James asked Carlos as the four boys sat in Kendall's backyard in the sun. James insisted on tanning, he claimed, because Kendall's backyard "had the perfect amount of sun this time of day". He really just wanted them all to get out of the house for once. It was summer: the sun was bright, the clouds were nearly all gone, and there were kids running around everywhere you looked. They needed to be a part of that. Even James knew it was unhealthy for them to sit inside and mope around all day long.

Carlos nodded in answering, "I guess so…I don't really know what's going to happen."

"Hopefully, they let you stay here, with us," Kendall inputted.

Carlos gave a small smile as he nodded once again, "Yeah… I don't think my abuela would let them take me away from my friends. Besides, I can still see her and my abuelo all the time. They only live a few blocks away."

"They might send you to live with them though," Logan mentioned, not wanting to burst their bubbles, but needing to be the only realistic one, as usual. "I mean, they are your only relatives in the state. That is, if they aren't planning to take you out of the state."

Silence arose among the friends, until James finally asked, "What if they send you to one of your aunts and uncles places in Mexico, or whatever?"

"Spain," Carlos corrected. "And I hope not…I need you guys."

Kendall put a hand on Carlos' shoulder, "That's not gonna happen. Either you stay here with me, or you live with your grandparents. Either way, we'll still see you everyday. Promise."

Carlos smiled, "Thanks, man… Your mom doesn't think I'm a burden or anything, does she?"  
>Kendall gave him a reassuring smile, "Of course not. You know she loves all you guys!"<p>

"That's true. Half the time, I'm pretty sure she loves us more than she loves you," James commented with a grin Kendall's way in an attempted joke.

"Shut up…you're the least favorite!" Kendall joked in reply.

"That _has_ to be a lie!" James objected.

"No, I believe it," Logan commented. "None of the rest of us steel her hair care products!"

"It was _one time_, and I _asked_!" James defended himself with killer emphasis of the voice.

"Sure it was," Kendall threw in with a smile. He was glad things were coming somewhat back to normal. Making fun of James just felt _right_, like something they always did. It was one of those things they did long before Carlos' family was gone.

None of his friends seemed to notice how much Carlos wasn't into their joking around. How could he be? It was way too soon to joke around…right? He felt like he couldn't be happy and joking like his best friends, because, quite frankly, he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve to be happy while living, while his parents and baby brother were buried underground somewhere.

It wasn't so much that he didn't _want _to be normal and kid around with the guys. Quite the opposite—he _craved_ it. He just wanted things to go back to normal. He wanted to wake up from this non-stop nightmare that turned into his life. But he knew that would never happen.

The anticipated court date was the next Friday. Mrs. Knight made sure Carlos, Kendall, and Katie were all dressed in their best clothes, hair nice and combed back, and _no_ Vans, much to the boys' disappointment. Logan and James were dressed with equal "Mom-picked outfits", sitting along with their parents in the court room for support.

Carlos had a thing for biting his nails when he was nervous. He didn't know _why_ he was nervous. It wasn't like he did anything wrong. It was just a court hearing to determine who got custody of him. Still, he bit his short finger nails as he sat there, quietly waiting for the judge's decision.

He wouldn't send him away, right? He couldn't. That was the last thing Carlos wanted to happen. He had everything else taken away from him, the least he could ask for was to stay where he'd grown up, with his best friends.

After a long spiel about how important it was for Carlos to stay in "an environment he was accustomed to already" and some other jazz like that, the judge decided to grant Mrs. Knight permanent custody of Carlos.

The friends cheered, and Carlos was perfectly happy to be staying with the family that had always been like a second family of his own. But that was the problem, in Carlos' mind: they weren't his family. As much as he wished they were his real family or that his family was still alive or _anything_, nothing seemed to work out for him.


	6. Fighting

_I finished chapter six; who's excited? It's not the best in the world, but ya know..._

_I don't own anything._

The weeks passed, and Kendall, James, and Logan weren't sure what to do about their best friend. Carlos was just plain miserable. He never pranked with them. He rarely smiled or laughed or gave that dorky grin they came accustomed to. He hardly ever paid attention to anything else that was going on around him (not that he ever really paid attention to much). He didn't like going outside, or even playing some indoor hockey while Mrs. Knight was at work and they couldn't get caught. He just seemed…broken. And there was nothing the other three could do about it.

"Guys, we gotta fix Carlos," James told Kendall and Logan one afternoon, when Carlos refused to join the three of them at the secret lake they'd gone to every summer since they were ten. The three were just getting there, about to go in the water, and James could no longer contain his thoughts.

Logan nodded in agreement and replied, "I know. He hasn't been himself since everything happened, and I'm really worried about him."

Kendall raised an eyebrow at them, wondering why they seemed so insensitive to everything Carlos was going through. Then again, he was the only one who had lost a parent out of the four of them, up until all this happened. Sure, Logan's grandma died when they were 13, but that was about all the family death they other two boys had experienced. Kendall knew what he had to do.

"Guys," he said, "Carlos just needs time. I promise, he'll get better. Remember when my dad died?"

It was a rhetorical question—he knew they knew—but James answered anyway, "Yeah. You were torn up for weeks."

Kendall nodded with a small, sad smile he'd realized he'd been using pretty often lately, as opposed to his strong, confident one. "Exactly," he responded.

"But I think this is different," Logan interrupted. "Carlos didn't just lose his dad: he lost all his family. And, believe it or not, Mr. Confident, he's not as strong as you. You remember what Carlos said when everything first happened, don't you?"

Of course Kendall remembered. He'd basically just repeated it. "Yeah, I know—I had Mom and Katie. But I at least know what he'd going through right now! It's not easy losing a parent, you guys don't know what it's like."

Logan thought about Kendall's words. What did he mean? That he knew how to handle the situation with Carlos better because his dad died last year? That Logan and James weren't helping the situation at all? No, they were. At least, they were _trying_. They tried the best they could. They asked Carlos to spend time with them, talk about what he was feeling… Logan even made a point to ask Carlos numerous times a day what was going through his mind. Was it his fault he always got the mumbled "nothing" as a reply? Of course not; it couldn't have been!

"What do you mean? That James and I aren't helping him?" Logan finally asked, after a minute of thought.

"No, I just mean you don't know what he's feeling," Kendall answered all too quickly.

Neither Logan nor James believed him.

"That's only because he won't talk to us!" James mentioned, now mad at the turn the conversation was taking.

"He doesn't wanna talk right now—I was the same way," Kendall explained.

It made sense, but James was too angered right now to see that. "Carlos _isn't_ you. He's a totally different person, Kendall!" he said. "He's more fragile than you, he's not used to bad things happening."

"Oh, and I was? You think I was _ready_ for my dad to die?" Kendall's anger was now getting the best of him, and he couldn't stop it.

"Guys, let's not fight," Logan tried to stop the other two boys, but his attempts failed as James and Kendall both ignored him and continued looking at each other with angry looks on their faces.

"Of course not, but your dad was an ass anyway. You said it yourself, and you hardly ever saw him!" James yelled at Kendall.

"Don't talk about my dad like that, you idiot!" Kendall called in reply. He was so angry, he wanted to hit James, but he knew that was wrong.

"Why not? You used do it all the time! Just because he's dead now and Carlos' parents are dead too, you're acting like he was some high and mighty super dad! You _hated_ him, remember?" Okay, maybe James was going a bit far with this. But he was just looking out for Carlos! Carlos wasn't Kendall—he'd lost a lot more. And Kendall shouldn't act like he's the only one who can be there for Carlos. James was just trying to prove that.

"Guys, stop it!" Logan yelled, separating the two before somebody got hurt. He stood between them and pushed them far away from each other. He had the angriest look on his face, and the other two never thought they'd seen him angrier. "Can't you two see that we need to stick together? Carlos needs us, _all _of us. _Together_. We can't be fighting right now, especially about things we don't mean to say."

A few minutes of calming silence overtook the group as Logan's words sank in. Finally, Kendall spoke.

"He's right…" he said with a calming breath. He stuck his hand out toward James. "I'm sorry."

James nodded and shook Kendall's hand, pulling him into a bro-hug in the process, "Me too, man."

_Sooo…that's chapter six. I feel like there should have been more, but I wasn't sure where to go… Sorry if it sucked, I'm a bit under the whether today. :/ But I wanted to get this up before I forgot about it or decided to change my mind about something or whatever. Anyyyway, hollaaa. :]_


	7. Love and Hate

_Did I warn you that it would take longer to update because I was having issues? Yeah. Sorry! :) Anyways, I wanna take this opportunity to thank all of you for everything. Seriously. The favorites, reviews, alerts, everything, have been super awesome. And even just plain reading this is awesome of you guys. :) And SORRY again if this is sucky or badly edited. I may or may not have been watching the new episode of _The Glee Project _while I edited it. :)))) haha I'm sorry, it's the only reality T.V. I actually watch, I swear. (For those of you who watch the show, was it not the most intense moment EVER? Such a nail-biter! But I won't give away any spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it. :D) Anyway, thanks again and enjoy!_

_P.S….I own nothing. ;) And sorry for the killer author's note I just realized I wrote._

.

Carlos sat up in the bedroom he and Kendall now shared. The room was seemingly a lot smaller now that there were two twin beds, a desk, two bean bag chairs, and all of the boys' miscellaneous junk lying around it. They tried to keep it clean and as roomy as possible, but, _hello_, they were still teenaged boys. No way they were going to be able to keep their room clean. All the same, Carlos tried as hard as he could to keep as much as he could out of the way for Mrs. Knight.

He was still so surprised Mrs. Knight had agreed to take him in. Hell, he'd been surprised when she was just letting him stay there for a while until his court appearance solved the question of custody. He knew she was a good person, but he never in a million years thought she, or anyone else for that matter, was _this_ good a person. Any woman who was already a struggling single mother of two who took in a third child that was nowhere near her responsibility had to be an angel in disguise. He considered her his guardian angel, and he'd even told her so, to which she gave a modest smile in return.

He was actually surprised by the fact that he and Kendall were still best friends. He didn't quite get how people said friends who live together always begin to hate each other, and he never honestly did. How could anyone hate their best friend? If they're really your best friend, you always love them, right? At least, that's what Carlos was always taught.

Then again, hate was never really something Carlos ever had in him. But there were a few people he knew he hated: his family's murderers. Whoever they were, he hated them. He hated them with everything he had. He hated them with every bone in his body. _Those_ were the people he wanted dead.

Now, his mother always taught him not to hate and never to wish death on even the meanest of people, but Carlos was _positive _she'd say differently if she knew he wanted her killer or killers dead. She always told him she'd take a bullet for him and Andreas, and he knew he would do the same for her. And that's what he intended on doing now.

The police weren't doing a damn thing about the murders, he knew. So he intended on figuring it out himself. He knew his friends would just try to talk him out of it, so there was no telling them. He was alone in this battle.

.

_So, I hope we all understand what I'm implying at the end here, yes? :) And this was super short, and I didn't realize it till now, but I PROMISE it gets longer later on. This chapter was kinda just to fill you up for what's to come…so bye! :)_


	8. Sneaking Out

8)) _So, I was going to upload this like…Tuesday? I think? But then I didn't, because I got busy. Good news though! I went to a BTR concert on Wednesday! It was the greatest thing ever, I don't even think you understand how complete my life is right now. Some of their fans (and their moms) are reeeeally annoying though. I mean, the second the guys got at the fair, they just started screaming. A security guy even had to come out and tell them to shut up 'cause the guys wanted to relax before the show. I laughed. And then I felt sorry for the guys. It's like they never get any peace with people like that... Kinda rude of those fans; just sayin'. Luckily, they have non-crazy fans who don't follow them around and scream all the time, like me. You're welcome, gorgeous boys I love. You're so welcome. Haha :) OMG, wow, I'm sorry, this author's note is like a billion years long right now. haha my bad. Umm, enjoy the story, and I don't own anything you may recognize. PEACE. :)_

Carlos was never very bright. Sure, he was always good at science experiments because he loved blowing stuff up, but that was about it. He wasn't too much of a thinker. He always got confused while trying to solve fractions. He could never really spell all that well. But that was all stupid, unnecessary school stuff. _This_ was real life. And he didn't need to know how many wars the United States was involved in during the 19th century to know that he had to avenge his parents' and baby brother's deaths. He had a plan.

Over the past few weeks, Carlos had spent as much time by himself as he possibly could without becoming too anti-social (in which case, he was kidnapped by his best friends). It wasn't that he didn't want to tell Kendall, James, and Logan—he just knew they'd try to talk him out of it. And it'd probably be really difficult to explain to them that he wanted to track down his family's murderer himself. They'd probably think he was crazy, and send him away. The _last_ thing he wanted was to be sent away…

He intended on keeping his secret until the day he died…or at least got even. The plan was simple: go to his house while everyone was asleep, even though it was strictly prohibited; inspect the crime scene (Carlos always wanted to say that) and see what the cops obviously missed; track down the sorry sucker or suckers; and get even.

It was the end of July. Carlos had been thinking everything over for a while now, and tonight was the night he was going to sneak out. The hard part was making sure none of the Knights woke up.

He quietly got out of his bed, careful not to step on anything that would cause Kendall to awaken. He wasn't a very heavy sleeper, but Carlos knew he'd go right back to sleep, even if he did wake him. However, he made sure to be extra quiet. He made his way down the hall, past Katie and Mrs. Knight's rooms, down the stairs, and out the front door.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned against the front door of the Knight house. He felt like he was sucked straight into a rotten horror movie. One of those lame ones where you know the killer is going to get the stupid victim, even though they're seriously quiet. The only thing was, he wasn't being chased by a killer—he was chasing one.

Carlos was glad his house—his _old_ house, that is—wasn't far from Kendall's. He was extremely tired. Staying up until 4:00 a.m. to investigate his family's murder scene by himself wasn't exactly something he was excited to get done. _Stupid Kendall and his late-night C.O.D. gaming…_

Carlos reached the house in minutes—it was only a block away—and made sure there was no one around to see him. After a quick double-take look around the yard, he made his way under the yellow caution tape and into the house he grew up in.

The place was nothing like the home he'd come to know and love. The windows were boarded up, so no one should get inside. There was police tape everywhere he looked. There were broken things that hadn't been cleaned up from that night. There were police papers and files or whatever they were laying all over the place. It disgusted Carlos to look at the place that had once been his living room in this condition.

Quietly, just in case there was someone in the house with him, Carlos walked up the stairs to the bedrooms of the house. His room was the first door on the left. He opened the door and found everything in its place, just like it was supposed to be. His clothes were in his closet and dresser, his desk still had a bunch of trash he never bothered to throw away on top of it, his bed was still made from the last morning he'd been home. He knew his mother always made his bed after he left for school.

Thinking about his mother, Carlos made his way over to her and his father's bedroom. Upon opening the door, he wished he hadn't. The bed was all messed up on his mother's side with knife marks, the blue curtains were all cut up, and there was so much blood all over. _So much blood…_

Tears came to Carlos' eyes as he realized this was where his mother was murdered. He walked more into the bedroom, almost afraid. He walked over to the closet. His mother and father's clothes were still all there. Old family photo albums were still there. His and Andreas' old baby blankets and "Baby's First" books were still there. It was the only thing in the room that wasn't harmed in any way. It was perfectly how his mother always kept it.

Closing the closet door after another few silent minutes, he turned back to the destructed bedroom. He decided to walk across the hall to see Andreas' room. He was almost afraid to open the door. Did he really want to see what was inside? Did he want to see the things behind that door?

Yes. He _had _to see it. He wasn't sure why, but he had to open that door and see Andreas' old room. He had to see it because, if he didn't, he'd always wonder.

The second he opened it, tears once again flew from Carlos' eyes. It was even worse than his parents' bedroom. Everything was broken, thrown around, out of place. There was even more blood, and for a quick minute, Carlos wondered how on earth his baby brother could have so much blood in him. Then he looked out into the hall, and noticed the trail of blood from his parents' room to his brother's. _She tried to save him…_

He'd never had so many emotions. He was so angry, so sad, so crazy right now. He wanted more and more to kill the murderer or murderers. But before he could even think about his next move, he dropped to the floor and cried his eyes out.

Not two minutes later, he felt pairs of arms around him, and immediately knew it was his best friends. He looked up at them, their own tear-streaked faces showing back.

"W-we followed you. We didn't want to you get hurt," James answered Carlos' unasked question of their presence.

"You woke me up when you left, and I called the guys. We kind of knew you'd be here…" Kendall explained further.

Carlos cried even more, and held onto the three pairs of arms around him. Right now, he didn't care that they had followed him on his secret sneak out. He just needed his buds.


	9. The Truth

_Gooood neeews.:) I updated. I'm really excited about it. Yay, yay, and yay again. …Sorry. Please don't judge me. Anyways, chapter…what is it, nine? Sure! Enjoy, and I own nothing._

It was probably a stupid idea, but the boys stayed in the Garcia's house until after sunrise. They didn't have the heart to pry poor Carlos away from the house he grew up in, the house his family died in. And Carlos was _not_ planning on leaving his baby brother's room any time soon.

Tears had been shed just as much as, if not even more than, they had the night of the actual murders. The only thing the boys knew was that Mrs. Garcia and Andreas were murdered in the house. They didn't know how much blood there was, that Mrs. Garcia had run across the hall, as cut up as she must have been, just to save Andreas. They didn't know how bad everything had actually been.

Carlos was even angrier at everything and everyone. Why hadn't anybody told him about this? He had to find out for himself that his family was _slaughtered_? And would he have even found out, had he not sneaked into the house? Would he have ever known the truth?

It was 7:30 when Logan spoke up to the group, who were still in a small, intertwined circle of arms on the ground of Andreas's bedroom.

"We should go, guys," he stated. "The police might come to investigate further, and our parents will be crazy looking for us sooner or later."

James nodded as he stood, along with Logan. Kendall pulled back from Carlos and asked, "You gonna be okay, buddy?"

Carlos just sat there with an unreadable look on his face, then answered, "I was gonna get even."

The other three looked at each other, confused, and hoping he'd elaborate on his answer.

"What are you talking about, Carlos?" Kendall asked him lightly as James and Logan sat back down with their best friends.

"Their murderers. I was gonna get even with them."

"Carlos, you know the police are doing everything they can," Logan stated, Mr. Responsible, as always.

"They're not!" Carlos objected, now beginning to be angry at his so-called friends too. He thought by telling them, they'd help him. He couldn't do this on his own. He realized that he needed Kendall, James, and Logan right by his side.

"They are," Logan replied sternly. "Come on—let's go home."

"No! I am home! This is my house! You go back to your perfect house and your perfect parents and your perfect life and leave me alone!" Carlos screamed, tears streaming down his face once again. It was only 7:30 a.m. and he had already done a lifetime of crying that day.

"Carlos, buddy, calm down," James reassured him, a hand at his shoulder and a solemn look in his eyes. "We can all go back to Kendall's with you guys if you want…"

Carlos was shaking by now, deciding that maybe James was right. He was beyond tired at this point, and Mrs. Knight was surely going to flip when she realized they weren't home.

He nodded and stood, the rest of the boys following him out of the destructed house.


	10. Trouble

_I don't own anything. But, here, you can have a chapter. :)_

"Where on earth have you been?" The four boys were sure that the entire neighborhood could hear Mrs. Knight yell at them as they entered the front door of the Knight home.

"Mom—" Kendall began, but Mrs. Knight angrily continued.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I went into your bedroom to check up on you, and it was empty. Do you have any clue what I thought happened to you? I was about to call the police!"  
>"Mom!" Kendall tried to get his mother to stop talking so he could explain.<p>

"I raised you better than to leave this house without leaving a note, Kendall Knight; and what are you four doing up so early anyway?"  
>"MOM!" Kendall yelled his loudest.<p>

His mother raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Carlos needed us to go to his house…" he explained. Sure, he could have thought of a million excuses that would explain their absence—an early-morning sale on hockey equipment down at the Sports Center, a sun-rise hike up the hill—but he was way too tired. And honesty is the best policy, right?

Mrs. Knight's expression softened. She looked at all four boys with an understanding look on her face. "Boys, you know you're not supposed to go there…"

"We know. But—"

"It was my fault," Carlos interrupted Kendall, who gave him the "I got this—what are you doing?" look. Carlos ignored the look and continued speaking to Mrs. Knight, "I wanted to see the house, and I made the guys come with me… I'm sorry, Mrs. Knight."

She was quiet a minute, as if debating with herself whether or not she believed the boy. Finally, she gave a smile and stepped forward, giving Carlos a hug.

"Sweetie, I know you miss them. But you can't go back there again, you hear me? You could get into big trouble, or seriously hurt," the mother stated.

Carlos nodded against her shoulder. "Yes. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Mrs. Knight pulled back, nodded, and turned to Logan and James. "Your parents don't know you're here, do they?"

They gave her innocent smiles and replied in unison, "No…"

She sighed, "I'll call them…"

"Thanks, Mama Knight!" Logan called to her as she left the room.

The four boys stomped into Kendall and Carlos's bedroom and sat in a circle on the floor, the way they always had when they had to talk seriously, without anybody else hearing their conversation.

"Why'd you lie to Mama Knight?" James asked Carlos.

Thinking about it, Carlos wasn't entirely sure why he'd done it. It's not like they would have gotten into trouble for following him to his old house. They were just worried about him—Mrs. Knight would definitely understand that. So why was Carlos so sudden to tell Mrs. Knight he had made the other boys join him?

"I don't know…" Carlos replied to James's question with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just thought…well, things are easier when we're together. I just wanted you guys by my side."

He knew it hardly made any sense, and hoped his friends still knew what he meant by it. He didn't want to be singled out, even though he was the one to leave the house in the middle of the night on his own. Especially after what he'd seen today, he didn't want to be left alone by his friends.

"We should get some sleep, you guys," Logan pointed out. It was now 8:30, and the most sleep any of them had gotten was about 3 hours. They knew they had to talk about this more, but sleep was more important at the moment.

The other three boys agreed, and they were asleep on the floor in minutes.


	11. Plans

_Sorry if this is crap or crapily (YEAH, crapily) edited… I'm having like the worst day ever, and I'm actually hoping writing this will cheer me up. So enjoy._

_I don't own anything._

Carlos didn't wake up till the next morning, he was so tired. The day before was absolutely exhausting. He didn't want to do anything but lie in his bed forever. But he knew that couldn't happen.

More than ever, he wanted to get even with his family's murderer or murderers. After seeing the mess that was his baby brother and parents' bedrooms, he couldn't get the images out of his mind. Every time he closed his eyes, he remembered the blood, the stains, the marks. No matter what he thought about, he always thought back to the rooms. Then he thought about how the bodies must have looked.

He remembered wondering why no one would let him see his family after everything happened. Not even at the funeral did he get to see their faces. It was a closed casket funeral for all of the Garcia's, and now he realized why. They must have just looked _that_ bad.

Carlos wanted to do to the murderers what they did to his family.

He thanked God he wasn't home that night.

_No._ He changed his mind quickly. He wished that he _had_ been home that night, the night his family was murdered. He could have saved them, his mother and Andreas. He could have protected them. He could still be with them now. Even if he had died with them, at least he wouldn't be alone.

He remembered his father at that moment. His father wasn't with his mother and Andreas in the house—he was out at work. And how is it that he just happened to be on the wrong side of town and get shot the night his wife and youngest son were murdered in his home?

He murderers were after him. They had to be! It was probably an ex-prisoner or something. Some drug dealer getting back at him for bringing him to jail.

Carlos had a lead. Just like in those criminal mastermind movies and television shows! He had something to go off of. He knew where to start his search.

He'd set out for that bad part of town that night, when everyone was asleep.

_Okay, so, for the record, this totally did help my mood. :) I may even go write another chapter, just because that's how happy I am right now! :))) Yay. _

_Let me know what you think about Carlos's new-found information and stuff! ;)_


	12. More Sneaking Out

_Yes, yes. Another chapter in one day? I'm awesome, I know. :) Well, I'll shut up now so you can all read!_

_I don't own anything either!_

Okay, so sneaking out of the house for the second night (that he was awake for anyway) in a row was not the brightest idea Carlos ever had. But time wasn't something he had a lot of. What if the murderers were off in another state or even _country_ by now? He couldn't risk that!

So Carlos once again made his way to leave the Knight house around 2:00 a.m.

"Where are you going?"

Carlos turned around, hand still on the doorknob of his and Kendall's bedroom, to see Kendall sitting up in his bed with a tired expression on his face.

"Nowhere," he replied. "Go back to sleep."

Carlos made a move to go back to opening the door, but before he knew it, the door was being pushed back shut by another pair of hands. He turned to find his best friend next to him.

"Liar," Kendall called Carlos out, staring him straight in the eyes.

Carlos's shoulders fell as he let out a sigh. There was no point in lying about this. He was fully dressed and had a backpack attached to his right shoulder—it wasn't like he could tell Kendall he was going to the bathroom or something.

"I want to go to the other side of town," Carlos told Kendall, not making eye-contact.

"Carlos, are you nuts?" Kendall replied. "It's 2:00 a.m.—go back to sleep."

"No, Kendall. You can come with me if you want. We'll pick up James and Logan on the way. It'll be like a hiking trip!"

"One where we all end up dying? Carlos, that side of town is really bad—especially at this hour." Kendall didn't want to argue with Carlos about this, but enough was enough. Two nights ago, he leaves the house to check out his crime scene of a house, now he wants to visit the worst area in the town? Possibly, the whole state of Minnesota? No. He was standing up to him this time. "This isn't _Stand By Me_, Carlos. We can't just get our group of friends together, lie to our parents about sleeping over each other's houses, and follow train tracks that lead to the body of some dead kid."

Carlos looked heartbroken. Sure, he never actually expected Kendall to fully go along with his plan, no questions asked, but he didn't think he'd be so mean about it.

"Fine," Carlos finally responded in a huff. "Then I'll go alone."

When Carlos turned to grab the doorknob once again, he heard Kendall give in—"Fine! I'll go with you…just hang on." He didn't want Carlos out there by himself. At least by going with him, he knew he'd be safe.

Carlos smiled in success as he waited for Kendall to pack a small bag and leave his mother a small note:

_ Mom,_

_Went on a fishing trip with the guys._

_Be home in a few days. See you soon!_

_Love, Kendall_


	13. Thinking About It

_Okay, so, school's been an absolute bummer lately, and it's only like the second week of school, so updates are probably gonna be weird. Anyway, enjoy. :D_

_I don't own anything._

After _a lot_ of begging, pleading, and persuading for James and Logan to come with their best friends on this sudden journey, the boys were ready to take their trip across town.

It wasn't like it was a long-lost, far away journey—it was only a few miles.

"You guys, I wanna go back home!" James whined for the millionth time. They were almost to the other side of town, it was now 3:00 a.m., and James was _not_ into this. Getting woken up by his best friends to have a 50% chance of dying was not his summer goal. "This is stupid!"  
>"You're stupid," Logan mumbled. He was tired and didn't care if he made sense or not. If this idiotic plan was going to get Carlos to finally accept things and go on in life, he was going to do it.<p>

James glared and reminded Logan, "This wasn't _my_ idea."  
>"Guys," Kendall got their attention. "Shut up. We're almost there, and Carlos needs us. So <em>deal<em>."

Silence surrounded the boys once again, and there were so many different thoughts running through their minds.

Carlos was more than ever determined to find his family's murderers. The closer he got to finding them, the stronger and more courageous he got. He had fantasies in his head throughout the past few days about what he'd do to them, fight scenes. Consequences were not a worry. Who would punish him for stopping murderers? Everything was going to work out perfectly in the end. His dad would have been proud. His mom would have shed tears of happiness for what he'd done. Andreas would have been happy to call him his big brother. All he wanted was to avenge his family…

The more Logan thought about it, the more this sounded like a terrible idea. James was right (in all his _glorious_ whining): they could be killed for this. Entering the bad side of town at 3:00 a.m. practically _screamed _BAD IDEA. But he kept moving on with his friends, hoping that maybe, just maybe they'd all learn something from this. And make it out alive. And maybe Carlos would see that he could finally deal with everything, before anything could really go wrong. _Maybe_.

James was just plain tired. He totally thought it was a good idea for Carlos' family's murderers to be punished…he just didn't see why on earth he had to be there to do it. And why did this have to be done at _3:00 a.m._? What, were the murderers vampires or something that only came out during the night?

Kendall was looking at this, as he did most things, in a positive view. Carlos would finally be okay once he settled…whatever it was he wanted to settle. Everything would finally go back to normal. Carlos would be happy again, and the four of them really could go on hiking journeys, fishing trips, lake days, and hockey rink adventures. They could be carefree again. They just needed to do this…whatever they were doing.

What was it they were doing? Kendall suddenly thought about it. Carlos wouldn't _actually_ try to track down his family's murderers, would he? No. He couldn't be that naïve. …Could he?

"Carlos," Kendall suddenly spoke up, as they finally reached their destination. Carlos was still speed-walking his way through the neighborhood. Kendall first wondered what on earth he was even looking for. Someone to come up to him and say, "Hey, are you that Garcia kid? Yeah, I totally killed your parents and little brother! Good times!"?

Carlos didn't hesitate in his steps, even when Kendall called him.

"Dude, where are we even going?" Kendall asked as he jogged to catch up with Carlos, who was obviously leading the unknown way.

"We're gonna find them," Carlos mumbled his answer.

"_How_?" Logan asked. "Carlos, we're not crime scene investigators. Things in real life don't work out like they do in T.V. shows."

Carlos stopped in his tracks. He hadn't thought of that. He turned to face his friends, who all looked at him strangely. Like they thought he had a plan or something…

He didn't.


	14. Strangers

_Hi! So, remember that whole thing… with the school business and stuff? Yep. That's my excuse. :) Sorry! Here's chapter 14._

_I don't own anything._

"What do you _mean_ you don't have a plan?" Logan was, no surprise, freaking out. Carlos had just broken the news that he had no plans of what to do once they made it to the other side of town. All he had planned was "getting even" and people thanking him. He only thought about things that would happen afterword, once everything was said and done. He had no idea how to _get_ things done.

"I…I don't know. Kendall's usually the one who comes up with the plans!" Carlos knew his voice squeaked in nervousness as he replied to Logan's outburst. He knew he wasn't giving a legitimate excuse either—it wasn't Kendall's fault they were in this current situation. It was his.

"Let me get this straight," James said, still tired, but comprehending just the same. "You dragged me out of my nice, comfortable bed…so we could STAND HERE?"

"Guys, guys, guys!" Kendall calmed them down as he stood in front of Carlos, who was now getting death glares from both James and Logan. "Everybody chill. We can figure this out!"

"What do you mean _chill_?" James yelled. He turned to Carlos, "Carlos, man, you know I love you like a brother, but seriously? I'm going home!" He turned around once again to leave, and just as he did so, fell on the ground.

A scowl made itself to James' face as he realized he'd run into someone. "Hey, watch where you're—" He cut himself off. Stood in front of him was, no doubt, the hugest guy James Diamond had ever seen in his entire life.

The guy he'd run into was approximately 6'10" and had to have weighed close to 400 lbs. James gawked at the man, who had a cold stare on his face. The other three boys helped James up and pushed him to the back of their group to prevent his inevitable death-by-huge-dude.

"Sorry, he's tired and not in his right mind," Kendall quickly told the guy.

He just stared back down at the four scared boys.

"Well, you've done it, Carlos—we're gonna die!" James frantically whispered from behind the group in an angry tone.

Carlos looked over at James, Kendall, and Logan, then looked back up at the huge guy that stood before him. "Do you know the guy that killed the Garcias?" he asked in the bravest voice he could possibly muster.

Carlos immediately got a jab in the ribs from Logan, followed by a wide-eyed death glare.

"Oh, now he's definitely gonna kill us," James mumbled, slumping his shoulders.

"I ain't gonna kill you," the huge guy said. He had that stereo-typical "big, bad guy" voice, and the boys were totally sure that he most definitely _was_ going to kill them. The guy turned to look down at Carlos and said, "Why you wanna know 'bout the Garcias?"

Carlos gulped. This suddenly got a lot scarier and a lot more real. But he could do this…it was for his family. For his mamí. For his papí. For Andreas. "They're my family," he finally answered, and the rest of the boys immediately thought it was the wrong answer.

"We're doomed," James commented, now being completely blunt. Logan shoved James and turned back to watch the scene before him. The big guy not responding yet could be either good or bad for the four best friends.

The guy's next movement was sudden and unexpected—he held a hand out to Carlos.

Carlos, confused as ever, hesitantly grabbed the big hand before him to shake.

"Your father was the best of the best," the guy finally told him.

All four boys breathed a sigh of relief, and Carlos gave a smile, "Did you know him?" This guy obviously wasn't as bad as he thought if he knew his papí. He must have been one of the good guys.

The guy nodded, "I was there the night he got shot."

Carlos's face lit up. This could help him a lot! If he knew who shot his dad, he could _definitely _figure out who killed his mother and Andreas too. And he could finally live with himself.

"Who shot him? Do you know?" he asked, excitement evident in his voice.

"What? No, Carlos! You are not going after the guy who shot your dad!" Logan told him, stepping up to his role as the smart one of the group. This could only lead to bad things. Like bodily injuries…and death.

Carlos shot Logan the "shut up" look. He turned back to the big guy in front of him, as if repeating his previous question.

"Come with me," he replied, and turned down a dark alley down the road.

Carlos immediately followed, James, Kendall, and Logan hesitantly doing the same.

"Whatever happened to 'don't follow big, scary strangers into dark alleys'?" Logan sarcastically wondered in a slight mumble. He was ignored, and all five of them stepped into one of the back doors of the broken-down looking buildings.


	15. Safe House

15)) _Umm…sorry? Hehe:)) School keeps me busy…and I'm kinda lazy, I guess. But here you guys go!_

_I don't own anything. :)_

The building was dimly lit as the boys entered. They were in a bar-like place, an old jukebox playing in the background and a few people sitting around with drinks and playing poker.

Carlos would normally comment on how much this looked like an old gang movie, had he not been trying to act like he knew what he was doing. By this point, he was scared shitless. But he knew he had to continue to be brave, for his family.

On top of feeling scared, he now felt like a bad friend, too. Looking at his three best friends, he knew they didn't want to be there. James had no problem telling him (in that overly dramatic, girlish way) that he wanted to be home in bed, and thought this was a stupid idea. Logan had given him every logical reason for them not to be doing this, so he obviously wasn't head-over-heals for the idea either. Kendall had told Logan and James to deal with the fact that they were doing this, but Carlos knew it was only because he was such a good friend. He didn't want to be here either. They were all good friends, that's why they were here with him.

The boys walked closely together as they stepped up to the counter, continuing to follow the big guy that led them there. Finally, they came to a halt as the big guy approached another guy who wasn't quite his size, but looked twice as mean. The guy the boys had followed into the building said something they couldn't quite make out to the other guy, who in turn glared over at the boys. The bigger guy walked away then.

"You Garcia's kid?" he spoke to Carlos with an equally mean voice, moving to stand in front of him. He was about a foot taller than Carlos, and though height had never intimidated him before, he was completely afraid now.

Carlos gulped, and hoped no one else could hear him, though he was positive they had to have. "Yeah," he replied, trying to sound his bravest but only seeming to sound terrified.

The man, like the previous one, stuck out his hand for Carlos to shake. He gave a small smile as Carlos hesitantly shook his hand. "It's good to meet you, kid. Your dad was a great man," the guy told him.

Carlos breathed a sigh of relief, and he was sure Kendall, James, and Logan did too, just like the four of them had when they realized the huge guy wasn't going to kill them either.

This place they were now, Carlos realized, must have been a safe house or something, where his dad got his information on the bad stuff that went down. And these mean-looking guys were like undercover spies for the police force or whatever. Carlos smiled at the thought. He told Logan things like that totally _did_ happen!

"Here."

Carlos must have been deep in thought, because the next thing he knew, he was sitting down at the bar with Kendall, James, and Logan. The guy they'd just met sat cans of coke in front of all of them and a plate of nachos in the middle of them to share.

"You kids shouldn't be here," the guy was now telling the four boys as they ate their nachos and drank their cokes.

"How come?"Carlos asked.

"You know how come, Carlos," Logan whisper-yelled next to him.

Carlos ignored him and waited for the guy to answer his question.

"It isn't safe for you here, especially this time of night. Your dad wouldn't want you here, and I'm sure he told you that before he died," he answered.

Carlos looked down. Of course he told him that, but there were things that needed to be settled, things that needed to be done. He couldn't just ignore them.

"I wanna find out who killed him. Him, and my mom and brother. Can you help me? Please?" Carlos finally asked, hoping like hell he would say yes.

The man immediately responded, "You don't want to do that, kid. That's what the police are doing."

"No, they aren't. They say they are, but I know they're not. Besides, this is my family we're talking about. I _need_ to do this." Carlos had the saddest look on his face, just remembering everything that was going on. This still just felt like a really bad dream.

The guy stared at Carlos long and hard, as if debating whether or not this was a good idea. Of course it wasn't, he was just a kid. But he didn't have the heart not to tell him no. "All right," he finally responded. Carlos's face lit up at the words. "But you gotta listen to me and listen good, got it?"

"Got it!" Carlos immediately responded, now full of delight. He was finally getting somewhere!


	16. The Worst

_Sorry it's been a while, and that this is so not worth the wait..._

_I own nothing._

The boys listened intently to Chuck—which is what they found out was the mean-looking dude's name—with open ears. They didn't want to miss anything important, especially Carlos, who was still way too anxious.

Chuck told them everything they needed to know. Well, everything they thought they needed to know. How many people can honestly say they've gone "murderer hunting"? They had no idea _what_ they were supposed to know. But Chuck seemed like he genuinely wanted to help them, so they listened to every word he said.

Upon listening to Chuck's words, the four boys left the alleyway's safe house. By this point, it was about 7:00 a.m.

"Okay…what are we doing now? Bed time?" James desperately asked, wanting to be back to his warm bed immediately.

"_No_," Kendall replied, giving James a stern look. "We're camping out for a few days, until Carlos gets his closure."

"_What_?" James freaked. "No! I don't want to go 'murderer hunting' with you guys!"

"Will you shut up and just deal with it?" Kendall was getting irritated by James' attitude now. Why couldn't he just accept that they were doing this? It was for Carlos, their _best friend_. If James was in this situation right now, they'd be doing the same exact thing: helping him get through it.

"No, I will not 'shut up and just deal with it'!" James replied furiously. "This is stupid! We're never gonna find Carlos' family's killers, and even if we do, we're going to die ourselves! Is that what you guys want?"

Carlos shifted on his feet uncomfortably. He did not want to be the reason for yelling or fighting. He just wanted to feel safe again. He wanted to feel like he wasn't a horrible person for letting his family die. Or living while they remained dead. He hated this.

Kendall was about to yell at James once again, undoubtedly starting a screaming match between the two at 7:00 in the morning. Logan rolled his eyes and took a step away from the two, anticipating their fight. However, Carlos stepped in and told them, "You guys can just go home."

"_No_," Kendall told him. "We're not letting you do this alone."

"Kendall's right," Logan reminded Carlos, a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Whatever you do, we'll be right beside you, always."

James nodded in agreement, though still angry. "Yeah, I don't _want_ to be here, but I will be, because you're my brother, man. We gotta stick together."

Carlos gave a smile at that. They were the best friends anyone could ever ask for, and they were right, he couldn't do this alone. He needed them.

So the boys decided to head toward their previous destination, a place Chuck referred to as "Deadman's Alley". Sure, it didn't _sound_ like the safest place in the world, but Carlos figured it couldn't be all that bad. Every place in this part of town was equally disgusting, frightening, and big-stranger-filled...right? "Deadman's Alley" was probably just a name used to scare the crap out of people.

Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan made their way throughout the still-sleeping streets of their small Minnesota town, not knowing what lay ahead for them. Now seeing this side of town in the light, it seemed all the more scary to them. Now they could see the police tape, boarded up windows, and bare, dull houses. It was way different than their side of town, with constant kids playing outside, houses decorated for every time of year, and bright colors everywhere you looked. It seemed to them like this side of town was a completely different town than they'd grown up in, though it was the same. It seemed the complete opposite to everything they'd grown up with.

When they finally reached where Chuck had said "Deadman's Alley" was, it looked even worse then they imagined. It was dark, even though the sun had been out for over an hour. The windows were either boarded up or shattered. There were dumpsters full of who-knows-what. Shattered beer bottles were scattered every which way, and if you looked close enough, you could surely see blood surrounding them. The alley was so trashed, the boys weren't sure they'd ever seen such a bad place. It practically screamed "LEAVE NOW OR DIE". Did they really want to do this?

Yes, they had to do this. For Carlos' own sanity.


	17. Deadman's Alley

_Long time no see, right? hehe :) Sorry, guys..writer's block sucks. I've been stumped on this story for a while now, but I think I may be getting back with it now. ANYWAYS! Onto this story..:)))_

_I don't own anything._

Carlos was the first to set foot in the scary alley. He took a giant gulp and proceeded to make his way down the deserted place. His hands balled into fists as he slowly yet anxiously walked. Kendall, James, and Logan all followed their friend into the dangerous place, sticking close together. They didn't want any one of them to be left behind or hurt, and this was legit stuff.

"Hey, you kids!" the four heard a booming, angry-sounding voice come out of nowhere. The boys turned their heads in every direction, until all four pairs of eyes landed on a big, scary figure simultaneously. The man came closer to them, and the four could really see him now. He was tall, taller than James, and big. He had scary blue eyes and black hair. He stood uncomfortably close to the four friends. "What are you doing here?"

"We-we're t-trying to find the guy to killed Officer Garcia," Carlos stuttered. Okay, so maybe that was an incredibly dumb thing to say. What, did he think everyone on this side of town knew every little thing that everyone else did, criminal wise? Why on earth would the guy who killed his family tell people about what he did? And why was Carlos even so sure the killer was even from their small town? He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling. And it was always worth a shot.

"_What_?" the man questioned Carlos.

The boy took a step backward with a tremendous gulp. "I-I..." He wasn't sure what it was he was trying to say, but whatever it was, it just wasn't coming out.

Kendall stepped in front of Carlos in a protective stance. "We don't want any trouble. We're just trying to figure something out," he explained, as to not irritate the man.

The man was silent for a minute, and if you asked Carlos, he'd say he was debating on whether or not to kill the four of them. Finally, he shifted his eyes from Kendall to James and Logan, who were situated about 5 feet behind the other two boys, and back to Carlos once again. He narrowed his blue eyes, and questioned Carlos, "What'd you say about Garcia?"

"We're trying to find out who killed him," Carlos gave his response, now more confident, since he wasn't dead or bleeding in any way, shape, or form yet.

"You won't find him here," the man mumbled in response, his huge hands balling up into fists.

"You know who he is?" Carlos jumped up at the new information, moving back to his spot in front of Kendall. He was finally getting somewhere!

The man smirked dangerously, and the other three boys shuttered at the expression. Carlos, however, was too excited to notice the look. When the man looked a bit past the boys, through, Carlos looked behind him with a look of confusion.

It all happened in a split second. A tough, stinging pain shot through Carlos's jaw, and he was on the ground. He saw three other huge guys attacking Kendall, James, and Logan, respectively. The boys each tried their hardest to fight back, screaming and yelling as they tried to throw punches at the men.

But it didn't take long, and soon each of the boys was knocked out, their blood spewing every which way.


	18. Coming To

_An update? So soon? Yep. Believe it. I decided to update. I don't know why, but watching the Madonna-LMFAO collaboration during the superbowl halftime show just completely made me wanna update this story. I think it's 'cause they did a bit of "Sexy and I Know It", and we all know the BTR boys are sexy…and they know it. ;) Anyway, here's your chapter, you lovely people!_

_I own nothing._

Carlos woke up with a throbbing pain in his jaw, a stabbing feeling in his ribs, and a major headache. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Everything was dark, except for the slight moonlight shining through the window to his right. As Carlos squinted his eyes and looked around, he noticed that Kendall and Logan were to his right, James was to his left, and the three of them were seeming to all wake up simultaneously. He couldn't really see much else, aside from the guys.

He vaguely wondered why on earth he was in so much pain and where the heck he was. He remembered walking with the boys down Deadman's Alley...some big guy came up to them…what then?

He and some other guys beat the ever-loving crap outta them.

_Oh yeah._ Now he remembered…

"Are we dead?" Logan, the _smart_ one, asked.

It was then that Carlos noticed that they were all sitting in wooden chairs, side by side, tied to the chairs in tough rope.

"No, we're not dead," Kendall answered clearly, trying to get his own headache to stop so he could conjure up a plan to get them out of this mess. He attempted to pull on the rope, but did nothing.

"No, but we could have been, _Carlos_!" James whisper-yelled, unsure of who could be listening to the four of them. He'd point all fingers at Carlos for this current situation, had they not been tied behind his back.

Carlos let out a whine as he answered, "I'm sorry, you guys."

Kendall gave a reassuring, comforting smile, "It's okay, Carlos…"

"It is definitely not," James argued with a glare Kendall's way.

Kendall glared at James in return as he spoke, "Shut up."

James just rolled his eyes.

"So…where are we?" Logan once again asked. Carlos was sure he was completely freaking out on the inside, and was therefore asking so many questions, trying to keep calm.

"I have no idea…" Kendall answered, yet again. The blond boy looked around, noticing the window. "Can anybody see out that window?"  
>"I can't see anything, idiot," James mumbled.<p>

Kendall ignored the comment, knowing that the last thing the group needed right now was to be angry with one another.

"I can see the moon…everything else is dark," Logan answered Kendall's question appropriately. If Kendall was calm, he could be calm too…right?

"Where do you think those guys are?" Carlos asked the group after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know…plotting our death?" James suggested.

Kendall glared at him once again as he said, "James…you're not helping."

James let out an exasperated sigh, "Sorry… I don't know, Carlos."

Another silence occurred, this one a lot longer than the last.

"Do you think they just left us here to die?" Logan suddenly asked.

"Oh no…" Kendall quickly muttered under his breath. He knew Logan's inner freak-out was coming out.

"Because we're only 16! That's way too young to die! I want to be a doctor. I can't be a doctor if I'm dead!" Logan shrieked.

"Logie, calm down—" Kendall interrupted Logan's self-rant, trying to get the boy to calm down, but instead being interrupted himself by Logan.

"I mean, am I supposed to treat other dead people? In the world of the non-living? That doesn't make any sense! Right? That doesn't make sense, does it, guys?" Had he actually been in his right mind, Logan would have realized _duh_, it made no sense. Life isn't like _Twilight_, where people become freaking vampires instead of actually dying…

"Logan!" Kendall nearly exclaimed. "Dude, calm down. We aren't dead, dying, or anything else or that sort. Please be normal!"

"Then what do we do?" Carlos asked after a minute. "Do we just sit here and wait, until those guys come back or the police find us?"  
>"No," Kendall answered, a determined look in his eye. "We're going to find a way out of here."<p>

_Soo, I know this wasn't the most eventful or awesome chapter in the world, but it's important…obviously… I'll update again soon, I PROMISE! :)_


	19. Planning

_I am so sorry. I honestly have no excuse for why this took so long… BUT! I did post two chapters today… This is obviously the first one. It didn't make sense to me to make the second one (the one posted after this) part of this chapter, so I just posted two separate chapters. Does that make sense? I hope so. Anyways, read on! :)_

_And I still don't own anything._

Kendall thought long and hard about what their next move would be. Because he could barely see anything, he didn't have much to base a plan off of. There could be other people watching the four of them, for all he knew. He didn't know where they were, what time it was, or what was going to happen next.

It had been at least an hour since the boys had awoken. Things hadn't changed much. Logan was still having a freak out, James was still mad at everyone and everything, Carlos was still unusually quiet, and Kendall was still thinking about how they were going to get out of this mess.

"Okay, guys, we're never going to get out of this if we don't work together," Kendall told the other three boys. "Everybody chill out and _think_."

"I am thinking… Thinking about how I want to be home!" James shouted at him with a cold glare on his face.

"Don't shout; are you crazy?" Logan whisper-yelled. "Don't you watch the movies?"

"Logan…THIS ISN'T A MOVIE. This is real life!" James continued to yell.

"James, shut up, stop yelling at everyone, and chill out!" Kendall told him. Didn't he _just_ say they couldn't do this unless they worked together? James never listened…

"Oh, and what's your brilliant idea? We just sit here, all tied up and shit, and _wait_?" James countered.

Kendall was about to yell at him in response, when he suddenly got an idea. Although James had clearly meant it as a sarcastic remark, Kendall realized that it was actually a good idea.

"That's actually not a bad idea…" the blond boy mentioned, signature devious smirk beginning to form on his face.

James blinked, a blank look on his face, as if he was deciding whether or not Kendall _was _actually crazy, or at least being sarcastic or something. When the pretty boy realized the blond was serious, he blankly asked, "What?"

"Just what you said—we'll just sit and wait," Kendall answered. His smirk stayed on his features, and James was once again confused.

"But you don't know how long we'll be here," Logan, who'd calmed down enough in his freak out to understand what Kendall was implying, stated. "Those guys could have just tied us up and left us here, while they leave town and we're left here for dead or, if we're lucky, until somebody happens to find us."

Kendall shook his head for emphasis as he said, "You said it yourself, Logie—that's not how it goes in the movies."

"Yeah, but James is right—this isn't a movie. It's real life," the smart boy answered.

"And who says movies aren't based off of real life?" Kendall countered. He was sure this plan would work. It _had _to.

"I think we should listen to Kendall," Carlos spoke up for the first time. The other three boys looked at him. "Guys, I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess. This is all my fault. But, Kendall's right. Besides, it's not like we have any other plans, right?"

James nodded as Logan replied, "Okay…what's the plan?"


	20. Waiting

_Okay! If you read my author's note from the last chapter, you know that this chapter was posted the same day as the last. So, if you're one of those people who just go to the last chapter and start reading, GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. Or you'll probably be confused._

_And I own nothing._

The plan was to wait, because that's what happened in the movies. Wait, wait, wait. And that's what the boys did. They waited for almost 6 hours. They were tired, but didn't want to fall asleep, for fear that they'd miss something.

"Dude, my butt is so sore…" James felt the need to tell everyone.

"Bro, I love you and all, but I really don't want to hear about how your butt feels…" Kendall replied, not knowing what else to say.

James rolled his eyes. It was now a bit lighter in the small room, because of the window, so he knew Kendall saw his eye roll. The light also made it clear what damage had been done to the four boys physically. Kendall was sporting a black eye and a fat lip, James also had a fat lip (slightly worse than Kendall's), Carlos had a huge bruise on his jaw, right where he'd received that first punch, and Logan's nose looked like it was broken, dried up blood down his face. Each of the boys were covered in dirt-gravel-whatever and had dried up blood here and there.

"Shut up," James told the blond, giving him yet another glare. "How much longer are we gonna have to sit here?" he asked, squirming around in his seat a bit, trying once again (and failing) to wiggle himself free of the tight ropes.

"Probably not much longer," Logan answered for Kendall, who he knew was getting frustrated with their friend. "If those guys are still here—and I'm not confirming that they are or aren't—they'll come in here to say something to us soon."

"What do you mean, say something to us?" Carlos questioned the smart boy. "Like…tell us stuff? Like that they were the ones who killed my family?"

"Dude, I think it's obvious that they are," James told him. "You literally asked _one_ stupid question about your family, and they all beat us up, knocked us all unconscious, tied us up, and left us to rot in a room."

"But that one big guy said we wouldn't find the guy who did it here!" Carlos reminded him, his voice going an octave higher. He wasn't sure why he was getting so crazy about all this, but he knew he had to. It was the right thing to do. It was _for his family_.

"He _lied_, Carlitos," James answered. He honestly wasn't trying to upset Carlos, but _somebody _had to tell him the cold, hard truth. Why not his best friend since pre-k?

"You don't know that, James," Kendall reminded him, trying to make Carlos feel better.

"Sure I do. Why else would we be here right now?" He turned to Carlos and continued, "Carlos, I'm only trying to help…"

"Yeah, I know…" Carlos mumbled, scuffing the dirty ground with his foot. The other three boys thought he looked so defeated, like he'd given up on everything.

Another few minutes of silence passed before Logan's prediction came true, and the big guy with black hair and cold blue eyes came into the room.

"Did you boys have a nice nap?" he mocked the four, and if they though he was scary before, he was downright terrifying now. As if the cold tone of his voice wasn't enough to make them nearly pee themselves in fear, he also looked even more terrifying in the dim lighting.

"Where are we?" Kendall asked the man, ever the bold kid that he was. "Who are you?"

"The name's Jackson," the man answered with a smirk. "And you boys aren't too far from your mommies, don't worry." He glanced over at Carlos, "Well…_most_ of you aren't."

Carlos would have broken out into tears at the statement, had he not been so angry. He struggled to break free, failing, and yelled at the man as best he could, "Don't you talk about my mother or any of my family, you bastard!"

The man, Jackson, laughed coldly. It was one of the worst sounds Carlos had ever heard in his life. "I didn't _kill_ you family, kid," he told Carlos, getting in his face for enunciation

"If you didn't, then who did?" Carlos questioned with a glare. He had to stay strong. Staying strong was all he could think about. He was so close to getting his closure, he could feel it.

"I did," a shockingly familiar voice came from the far corner—where the doorway was—of the room.

_BUM BUM BUM! Cliffhanger. Yeah. That happened. Soo, who do you think did it? hmmm! Guess we'll just have to wait and find out. ;) I'll update sooner next time, I promise! Only a few more chapters of this story left…:) Later, gaiters!_


	21. Finding Out

_Hii. :) So, this is chapter 21. I think. Sorry it took so long!_

_I don't own anything._

The figure belonging to the familiar voice stepped closer, and the boys were absolutely appalled by who had spoken those dreadful words, the confession Carlos had been itching to hear for weeks now so he could get even.

"_Chuck_?" the four spat in unison, something they did all too often. Yes, the man who had claimed to be a good guy, a friend of Officer Garcia's, had just admitted to the murder of Carlos' family. He was the man that got them where they were… He _set them up_.

"Glad to see you boys remember me," Chuck said with a smirk. He looked colder than he did before, and he looked downright scary to begin with.

Carlos gulped and shuddered as he responded, "But…why?" He couldn't believe it. Chuck helped them. He was supposed to be a good guy!

"Why? _Why_? Don't you watch the movies, kid?" Chuck spat with a dark laugh. "There's always that 'bad guy' that goes undercover to get what he wants! And I wanted your dad out of my way."

"You were his friend," Carlos nearly whispered. This didn't make any sense to him.

"You see, boys… There are only two reasons to have friends in this world." Chuck walked in a complete circle around the four boys as he spoke, watching him like they were his prey or something. "One: to satisfy boredom…" He stopped in front of Carlos. "And two: to get what you want." He gave a sadistic grin and stepped away from the boys again.

"And what exactly is it that you want?" Kendall questioned, trying his best to act confident and like he wasn't scared to death.

Chuck looked over his shoulder at the blond leader. "Isn't it obvious? I want what everyone wants—power. With fear comes respect, with respect comes power, and with power…you're set."

The boys were silent as Chuck left the room once again, Jackson—who'd been quietly, sternly standing by to make sure nothing got out of hand—immediately following.

"What the hell just happened?" James was the first to speak up after another few minutes or so of silence. He was completely confused, as were the other boys. How could that guy they'd met only a short while ago, be that same mean, rude, nasty man they'd just encountered? How could he be the same man that killed Officer and Mrs. Garcia and Andreas?

"He killed them," Carlos said, nearly whispering. He was so confused, frustrated, and angry—all at once. "He killed my family."

"Carlos…" Kendall began, but soon realized he had no idea how to complete that sentence. Ordinarily, he'd say it'd be okay and try to make him feel better. But this wasn't an ordinary situation. This was some seriously messed up stuff.

Silence overcame the boys once again, as they were left with nothing else to say. How would they get out of this now? The so-called good guy, who they always thought was on their side, turned out to be the guy they'd been after this entire time.

"Okay, everybody just stay calm," Kendall stated finally, when things were quiet for another good few minutes. He wasn't sure why he'd said it—it wasn't like the guys were even saying anything. Quite frankly, they were all confused, scared, and shocked by the turn of events.

"What do we do now?" Carlos asked no one in particular. The boys weren't sure he even meant to talk out loud, until he continued. "How are we supposed to get out of here now? Everyone thinks we're on a fishing trip, when we're actually tied up in some crappy place on the wrong side of town…"

"We can get through this, Carlos," Kendall tried to keep the boy's spirits up, though he was honestly thinking the same thing as him.

What were they going to do now?


	22. Movielike Hostages

_Hi there, beautiful people. Soo, this is chapter 22. Hope you guys like it. :)_

_I own nothing._

Three days. It had been three whole days. Three days since the boys had been here, being held "captive," or whatever. Things hadn't gotten any better.

The boys hadn't seen Chuck or Jackson or anybody since they'd discovered that Chuck was the murderer. There was this one guy who, every morning, gave them some food and water and let them go to the bathroom, all the while having a gun in his left hand, to make sure "nothing got out of hand."

To make matters even worse, the four best friends had started fighting a lot more. It seemed like they couldn't have a single conversation without fighting. Everything went back to their current situation.

"Does anybody know what time it is?" Kendall asked on that third day. They had just been given their food, water, and bathroom break for the day.

"I don't know, Kendall—maybe if I had my cell phone, I could check for you," James said bitterly, with a roll of his hazel eyes.

"James, don't start a fight this early in the morning," Logan told the boy, a tired expression on his face. He looked out the window a second, then turned back to Kendall before replying, "Looks like it's about 11:00…"

"Okay…" Kendall replied quietly.

Silence engulfed them once again. Carlos hated that silence. It came right after every near-fight. It was the silence in which no one was sure whether or not it was okay to speak, for fear of starting yet another argument amongst the boys. Carlos honestly thought that silence was worse than the silence after an actual fight between them. At least after a legit fight, they got everything (for the time being) off of their chests.

"Why are they even keeping us alive?" Carlos wondered out loud. It was just a mumble, but the other boys all heard him very clearly. Truthfully, they'd all been wondering the same thing. Why _were _they keeping them alive? They could have easily killed them off, like Carlos's family.

"I don't know Carlos, but they must be keeping us here for something…" Kendall stated his reply, staring over intently at the doorway. "A person can die in—what?—three days without water, right, Logie?"

Logan nodded his head, "That's about right."

"They probably just wanna make us suffer…" James mentioned. "Don't read into it too much, Carlitos. These are not good dudes."

"I know," Carlos replied quietly with a slight eye roll. _Obviously_ they weren't good dudes—they killed his family. "But what if there's a different reason they want to keep us here… What if they _need _us for something?"

Kendall immediately caught on, "Like to help them…"

Carlos nodded his head at the other boy, as James and Logan both gave separate looks of confusion.

"I'm lost," James pointed out. "What are we talking about?"

"What if these bad guys needed us to help them with something?" Kendall repeated. "What if that's why they're keeping us alive?"

"What do you mean, like, a legit hostage type of thing?" Logan was beginning to catch on as well.

"Exactly," Kendall replied. "Chuck said he wanted power—what if he tries to _get_ that power through us?"

"I still don't get it," James remarked. This was getting far too confusing.

"James," Kendall tried his best to explain to the boy. "In the movies, when there's a hostage situation in a bank robbery, what happens?"

"The bad guy with the gun threatens to kill the hostage unless he's given the money he wants…?" James answered, unsure.

"Exactly, so, if that's what's happening here, they're just gonna hold us hostage till they get what they want—power, money, whatever it is," Kendall stated with a smile.

"…And you're _happy_ about that?"

"Well, yeah. We're gonna get out of this."

"But we don't even know that's even what's going on here," Logan, Mr. Pessimistic, reminded the blond. He was still unsure about this whole matter. Wasn't this summer supposed to be "the best ever?"

"Logan, stop being a killjoy," Kendall replied. "If we're right, this is great news! It means we're gonna make it through this."

Logan couldn't help but give a small smile in return.


	23. Fights and Shots

_I'm sorry I take a million years to update. This story's really just getting horrible, and I honestly don't even know why I'm still getting story alerts and favorites and whatnot for it. Like, I don't even like this story anymore (though I DO appreciate all the encouragement throughout). Anyway, I hope you guys continue to enjoy…_

_I own nothing._

"So, is there, like, a time limit for hostage situations?" James questioned, the next day.

The other three boys stared at him blankly. Finally, Logan asked with the "you're a moron" tone: "What?"

"You know," James explained, dead serious in his inquire. "Like, shouldn't our kidnappers or whatever be leaving our parents letters that say _'If you ever want to see your son again, leave a million dollars under the bridge at 2:00 on Tuesday'_ or something like that. You know, so we can get outta here? I mean, our whole summer is probably gonna be wasted, at the rate this is going—"

"_James!_" Kendall cut him off. "Shut up. It happens when it happens. Stop asking dumb questions."

James was quiet for a second, before quietly responding, "Well, you don't have to be so mad about it, dude…"

Kendall rolled his eyes, but apologized anyway, "Sorry…"

The boys were fighting more and more. It seemed like every little thing set at least one of them off, and each of them were separately wondering whether or not they would even remain best friends after all of this. They'd always believed they'd be best friends forever, no matter what, through thick and thin, and all that other cliché crap. But then again, they'd never expected to be in this exact situation.

Carlos decided it was time for him to bring up his concern on the matter. He'd already lost his family—he didn't want to lose his best friends too.

"Guys," he called the attention of the other three boys. "Remember when we first met? It was the first day of pee wee hockey, and we vowed to be best friends forever."

"Of course we remember, Carlos," Logan responded, voice hardly above a whisper.

"From that day on, we were like brothers. We did everything together. We helped each other when we needed it. We've literally been through everything together since then… I love you guys. I just wanted you to know that."

Silence erupted in the small room, each boy thinking about what Carlos had just said. There's an old saying that says something along the lines of, "You don't truly know someone until you've been in a near-death-experience with them." Taking this saying to heart, was it possible that the boys didn't know each other at all? Were they really best friends?

Kendall decided to speak up. "Carlos, we love you too. I love all you guys, like brothers, like Carlos said… I'm just really irritable right now. I'm sorry I've been kind of a jerk lately…"

Logan nodded, "Same here… I love you guys. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," James spoke up. "You guys know how much of a drama queen I can be sometimes."

That got a laugh out of the rest of the boys. The break in the tension was good for all of them, until—

"Aww, isn't that cute?" Chuck's mocking voice interrupted the "bro moment" between the four boys.

They all looked over in the general direction of the doorway to see the big man standing there with two of his "pals."

"Our little boys aren't fighting anymore," Chuck continued to mock the friendship.

"What do you want?" Kendall spoke up to the man, though it probably wasn't his best idea at the moment.

Chuck grinned evilly at the boy, "I just wanted to come by and see how everyone was doing…" His mocking tone kept getting stronger and stronger. Before Kendall or any of the boys could respond, their kidnapper pulled out a black, shiny, handheld gun and pointed it at them.

A shot rang out.


	24. From Hostages to Hospitals

_Hi. :) Okay, I'm thinking this is the second-to-last chapter of this story. So enjoy!_

_I don't own anything._

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" the loud voice rang out.

Yells and screams were heard throughout the tiny room. The boys had no idea what was going on.

A team of men, police officers, had crashed through the doorway. The boys looked around nervously. Were they finally saved? Or was this just a dream?

Carlos looked at the scene before him. The police officers fired gunshots and chased Chuck and the other bad guys out of the room. He could hear them yelling and shooting as they ran off. One of the police officers had stayed back to help untie each of the boys from their chairs. Despite this fortunate turn of events, Carlos couldn't help but get more and more tired by the second. Why was he so tired all of the sudden? He was fine before the gunshot…

_The gun shot._

He looked down. His arm was absolutely covered in blood. _Oh God…what the hell was happening?_

"CARLOS!" It seemed Logan had seen the blood just as Carlos had. Logan, the future doctor, had hopped out of his chair as the police officer untied Carlos from his own chair. Kendall and James quickly joined the other two boys.

"Carlos, are you okay?" Kendall quickly asked the bloody boy.

"Does he _look_ okay to you, Kendall? He got shot!" Logan screeched as he tried wrapping Carlos's arm with a ripped shred of his shirt, to stop the bleeding.

Carlos could vaguely hear his best friends arguing, the police officer saying something to him and the boys, and faint sirens in the distance.

Then he blacked out.

.

Hours later, Carlos awoke in a hospital bed. He looked around. The room was pale white. He felt horrible. There was a throbbing pain in his arm. He had a headache. He was a little dizzy. And for a minute, he wondered if he was dead.

Then he heard James.

"You're awake!" his best friend's loud voice filled his ears, giving him an even bigger headache than he'd already had.

"Y-yeah…" Carlos mumbled in reply.

"How are you feeling?" Kendall spoke softer than James, yet was happy to see his best friend awake, all the same.

"I'm fine…what happened, you guys?" Carlos spoke timidly. He saw the IV in his good arm and bad arm wrapped up in a sling.

Logan spoke: "You were shot." He sat next to the boy on his bed. "And along with the fact that you were malnourished, you passed out. But you should make a quick recovery…"

Carlos nodded. "What about Chuck? And all the bad guys? Are they dead? Did the police get 'em?" He spat off all the questions that clouded his brain.

"Carlos, chill, man… You can't be getting worked up right now. You're sick," Kendall calmed the boy down.

"I'm gonna go get the doctor," Logan concluded, then proceeded to get up and leave the room.

"What was it like, dude?" James questioned the boy lying in the hospital bed.

"_James_," Kendall scolded his friend with a hard look on his face.

"What? I'm just asking! I've never known anyone who's gotten shot before!" James immediately defended himself.

"Guys," Carlos quietly interrupted their banter. "What happened to the guys that killed my family?"

"The police got them, they're in jail. They're going on trial…or something. Don't worry, Carlitos," Kendall answered. "You did it—you avenged your family. Your dad would be so proud of you."

Carlos smiled. That was all he ever wanted, throughout this entire experience. He wanted to avenge his family, get even. And he'd done it.

Kendall was right: his papí _would_ be proud of him.


	25. We'll Always Have Each Other

_Last chapter! :) Who's sad? We can cry together, if you want! That's what friends do. :)_

_Okay. For a final time: I own nothing._

It was now two months later, and so much had happened. School had started once again, and the boys were now juniors. Everyone in school had heard what had happened to the boys that summer. There were constant reporters at the boys' school, hockey games, and homes, digging for "the story of the century." On top of all that, their parents were always asking them where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with. They couldn't risk losing their boys again. And while the boys appreciated all the love their parents possessed, they hardly got a moment's peace.

"Ugh, when is it going to be over?" Carlos whined one day, while the four of them were on the ice rink (where they'd spent most of their time recently). He banged his hockey stick on the solid ice. "Can't these people just leave us alone already?"

The boys looked around, and noticed that there was (for once) no one around them. It was about 4:00 on a Wednesday, when the rink for strictly _theirs_. Their hockey coach had made a big deal about them getting to practice without "all those obnoxious cameras around all the time." The boys were happy for that.

"Soon, Carlos," Logan answered the boy. "It'll be over soon. It'll all blow over, sooner or later. Promise."

Carlos let out a loud huff as Kendall stated, "Well, at least we have each other, right? And we always will."

"Right!" James stated confidently. "If we can make it through a life-threatening situation where we're all tied together with guns pointed at us, we can make it through anything together."

Logan and Kendall both cracked a laugh at that, and Carlos followed the laughter saying, "Thanks for being there for me guys. A friendship like ours is hard to come by, and I love you guys."

_The End!_

_I hope you guys liked this story and this ending. I'm a sucker for happy endings! :)_

_Thank you all for your reviews/favorites/alerts and whatnot throughout this entire thing, they really do mean a lot to me._

_Till next time…much love! :)_


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